Install the 32-bit version instead if you have only 1 GiB of RAM. The 64-bit version will be faster for some tasks (especially repetitive mathematic actions on large data sets, like rendering, archiving, encrypting, or video transcoding), but on average it will up to 30% more memory for each running process because the basic integer width is twice as large. Generally I wouldn't advice against using 64 bit unless you have at least 2 GiB RAM.

jtaylor3222 wrote:for 1/4 of my memory

That's a bit silly, you must admit that. What if you had a computer that had only 512 MiB RAM? It wouldn't uses 1/4 of your memory, it would use 1/2. Or if you had 4 GiB RAM, it would use 1/16... So instead of relative numbers, let's stick to absolute numbers. Your operating system is using 313 MiB RAM, and if you want it to use less then run the 32-bit version.

jtaylor3222 wrote:while nothing is running

Your operating system is running, along with your desktop environment, and along with commonly used libraries that will be used by most of your programs.

You didn't mention which desktop environment you are using. If you are using Cinnamon then after installing Linux Mint 13 32-bit, consider using the backports repository to get the newer version of Cinnamon that comes with Linux Mint 14 (or just use Linux Mint 14 32-bit): http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2225. The newer version of Cinnamon should use significantly less CPU, and somewhat less RAM.